Detention I must not tell lies
by Inneedofatimeturner-27
Summary: This is my first multichapter fic in a while. Umbridge has her own idea of detention, a cruel idea. How will Harrys friends react when they find out? Please let me know what you think :) or if anyone has any ideas of where to go from here id love to hear them :)
1. Ginny

**A/N: This First chapter is about Ginny's reaction. Please review as feedback is always great :)**

Ginny walked towards Harry, who she knew was coming from detention in Umbridge's office. He looked pale, shaken up, like something bad had happened.

Ginny who counted Harry among her closest friends, saw these signs, warnings straight away, and knew something was wrong.

He had a certain look, that people rarely saw, that he involuntarily displayed when something was really getting to him.

His eyes were sad, and lacked the sparkle they always had. His hair was tossed as if he had been nervously running his hands through it and he was fidgeting with the sleeves of his robes, they were pulled down to cover his hands and he was pulling at the loose wool of his jumper.

All things that would go unnoticed by most friends, but not Ginny. Things didn't usually get to him, this reaction was rare. She knew there must be something badly wrong.

He had seen her now, and was walking towards her, he had perled up, trying to look like nothing was wrong, but it was too late.

They had reached each other and Ginny was full of questions.

"What happened? Whats wrong? Who is it? What did they do?"

But all she managed to say was "Harry?"

She always got the feeling that he ment more to her than she did to him, that she trusted him more than he trusted her, that their relationship was a little one-sided. That was just how she felt sometimes.

"Oh hey Ginny," he said, faking a smile. He could see the concern in her face. "Harry whats wrong?"

"Nothing, are you going to meet the others in the Great Hall?" he asked trying to change the subject. As if his eyes weren't enough of a distraction for her, she got lost in them so often.

"Yes Im on the way there now, but seriously what happened with Umbridge?"

"It doesn't matter, it really doesn't."

""Harry if something has you this shaken up, it clearly matters."

He winced, causing him to stop fidgeting with his sleeve, this was definitely not nothing.

"Harry your hand…."

He pulled away but changed his mind as she reached out for it. She took his hand in hers and gently pulled up his sleeve.

They had been walking but stopped when Harry showed the sign of pain. The corridors were quiet, most of the students were already in the Great Hall, but just in case, they had backed into a corner. Ginny sensed Harry's secretiveness about the topic.

Her hand was shaking slightly as she pulled back his sleeve with one hand, her other holding his. Harry looked her straight in the eye, waiting for her reaction, her gaze was focused on his hand.

She had gotten the jumper just to his wrist, when she saw it, the red raw cut. "Harry, shes hurt you, we have to tell Dumbledore, we have to."

"No Ginny, I did that myself."

Before he could say anymore, he was interrupted. "She drove you to that, Harry no, don't hurt yourself!" Ginny was a mix of emotions; anger, despair and sadness.

"Wrong again Gin, look." She pulled up more of his sleeve, realising she was still holding his hand. "I must not tell lies," she read the red lettering on the back of his hand.

"Umbridge made me write that, she gave me a quill some parchment but no ink. When I asked about ink, she said I wouldn't need it, every time I wrote on the parchment, it etched into my arm."

"She's sick Harry, go to Madame Pomfrey and get that looked after, I'll go with you if you want me too, then we can try contact Dumbledore."

"Let's go to the Great Hall, if its still sore later then I'll go see her ok? But were not contacting Dumbledore, we cant risk getting caught by the ministry!"

"Harry…"

"Trust me Ginny," he interrupted. "Ok."

She let go off his hand and they walked towards the Great Hall. Ginny had been waiting for day where she would hold Harry Potters hand, that was how she planned it.

"But this was your third detention, what did she make you do the other days?"

He gestured towards his hand. "She wanted it to _sink in_."

Ginny looked back at him in horror, there was something about Umbridge, with her bright pink outfits and sickly sweet voice, that made everything she did seem worse. How could someone who appears like that, inflict such pain on a teenage boy?

"We have to do something, to stop this!" she finally said. Just as she did, they reached the Great Hall, and he replied with a 'We'll talk about this later' look before sitting down beside Ron and Hermione.


	2. Ron

"Hey Harry," Ron said tucking into dinner. "Hi everyone," Ginny greeted, sitting down at the table. Harry just nodded.

Everyone talked about their day as they ate. Eventually the dreaded question came.

"How was detention Harry?" Hermione asked innocently.

He gave Ginny a quick 'Not here not now' look. "Fine, she's a crazy old bat, not that we didn't know that already."

"Total psycho," Ron agreed. That's what everyone thought but most were too afraid to say it. Harry looked desperately across at Ginny, trying to let her know that they needed to change the sunject. Luckily for him, she picked up on this straight away. She couldn't think of anything to switch the conversation to.

"So hows the studying for the Owls going?" That was the best she could come up with. Times like this she could only think of one thing…. Harry.

That wasn't going to help things, even if saying "I love Harry Potter" would certainly move the group away from the Umbridge conversation.

"Great" Ron said unconvincingly, receiving a disapproving look from Hermione.

"Well of course you've been studying Hermione." He shot back at her.

"Theres nothing wrong with being prepared Ronald, now if you'll excuse me , Im going to the common room to study some transfiguration while its quite," she said slightly hurt, while getting up from her seat beside Ginny and Neville.

"Well done Ron, you've upset her now!" Ginny barked at her brother. The stress of what Harry just told her was a little too much.

"She'll be ok," Neville said. "Give her some time to calm down.

Harry like most people, didn't like to see his friends fighting, but was glad to the topic of conversation had changed. He didn't feel much like telling anyone, not yet anyway.

"Im not that hungry, think I'll skip desert and go back to the common room, anyone want to join me?" Ginny asked, this time with a much milder tone.

"Me either, I'll go with you," Harry replied, happy with the chance to leave. With that they said their good byes and left.

"What is it with everyone today? So touchy." Ron said to the three remaining Gryffindor friends.

"I don't know but something's definitely up." Seamus said joining in the conversation.

"Maybe Harry and Ginny are together in secret, trying to keep it from all of us?" Dean suggested.

"Ugh Dean she's my sister." Ron didn't like that idea.

"He could be right you know, Ron." Neville broke the silence that had formed after Ron's outburst.

"They have been spending an awful lot of time together."

"Seamus shut up!"

"Just something that popped into my head."

"Yeah keep it there."

"Heard our little brother got keeper."

"Well done Ron."

The twins arrived to congratulate their brother. It wasn't long before they noticed the mood at the end of the table the three boys were sitting at.

"Who died?" George asked as Nearly-Headless Nick floated past.

"How inconsiderate," he said and kept going.

"Well done. I always knew I got the brains," Fred teased him.

"Ron's just in a bad mood because we think that Harry and Ginny are together, but he doesn't seem to realise his little sister is in fourth year." Neville explained.

"Ooooh," the twins chorused. "Time to test out those extendable ears." "Lets go"

"Then why would Hermione be upset? How does that fit into your little theory?"

"Well maybe she found out and they told her to keep it a secret for everyone?" Dean suggested.

"Or maybe she knows, but fancies Harry too?"

"I agree with Dean and Neville, it could be either of those Ron." Seamus agreed.

"Bloody hell you lot really do have an answer for everything don't you?" was Ron's only comeback.

"Right I'm going to the common room see you up there."

|Ron didn't like Nevilles theory at all. He had been trying to build up the courage to ask Hermione out for the last three years, but if she like Harry there was no point. Then he snapped out of it. They were just theories, the lads were messing. Her bad mood could have been caused by anything.

With that thought he reached the top of the stairs to the common room. As he got into the common room he saw Ginny and Harry sitting together by the fire and Hermione curled up on her own with a book. This wasn't helping with the boys theory. Not for Ron even.


	3. Ron's Reaction

**A/N: Rons reaction is not as surprising as many friends would react this way,hope this is how people wanted the story to go. reviews are much appreciated as always :) **

"People are starting to ask questions Harry, about why we are spending so much time together, and being so secretive," Ginny said over the crackling of the fire, one night later in the common room.

"Tell them we're dating" Harry muttered without looking up from his copy of the Daily Prophet.

"If only," Ginny thought aloud.

"Hmm?" he asked.

"Oh I just said that we could say that you finally decided to come out."

"Yeah or tha- Wait what?!" he almost agreed with her/

"Harry have you been listening to a word I've said?" Ginny snapped.

"Yes sorry, I was looking for news about Sirius, Dumbledore, anyone really."

"I know Harry, but you are going to have to tell the others about what happened."

"No Ginny, I'm fine, the scars will heal, and I'll be fine on my own."

"Harry this isn't going away. You need help, you can't let her win."

"I don't want to tell the others, they'll think I'm weak if I can't stand up to Umbridge, who can I stand up to?"

"Needing help isn't going to make you weak, admitting that you need help, itself is a strength."

"How is it Ginny?"

"It takes courage to do it Harry, that shows you are strong."

"I don't see how the others can help? I'll only drag them down, I feel bad enough for loading all this on you as it is."

"Friends listen to each other, share problems, and help, its what I'm here for."

"Fine I'll tell Ron and Hermione, that's it no teachers, and none of the order."

"Good, Ron's not speaking to me and Hermione's acting strange, they know something's up."

"Ok, I'm just going to ask straight out, are you two secretly dating?" Ron appeared beside the and asked.

"What?" "No." "Obviously not." That last one got Ginny right in the heart, he clearly had no interest, she once again pushed her feelings aside to deal with the matter at hand.

"I di have something to tell you though Ron," Harry began.

"I'll leave you to…." Ginny said as she got up to leave.

"No stay!" Harry called her back.

Ron was confused. Why had Harry, his best friend told his sister something – something important it seemed- before confiding in him?

Harry pulled back this sleeve, revealing, the still raw scar on the back of his hand.

"Bloody hell Harry!" Ron exclaimed.

"It was Umbridge she made him do it."

"At detention?" Ron asked taken a back.

"Yes, every night she made me write it with an enchanted quill, over and over again."

Ron was angry and hurt, why had Harry told Ginny first?

"Thanks for trusting me Harry, since you don't need me, I'll be off then." With that Ron got up and left. He headed for the door and they knew that once he got down the stairs he would go in the direction of Hagrids hut.

"I don't see how that helped."

"You'll still have to tell Hermione, she'll have a better reaction hopefully. Ron's just angry that you didn't tell him sooner, he'll calm down. Go for a walk probably, but then he'll come back and want to help just as much as I do."

"What if she doesn't, what if Hermione has the same reaction as Ron, see's me as weak, or that I betrayed her by not telling her first. What if Ron doesn't speak tome again?"

"You can't live your life thinking what if all the time Harry. Just tell her."

He wasn't going to have a choice, Hermione burst into the door of the common room.

"I just passed Ron in the corridor, whats going on?"

harry spotted Ginny giving him an encouraging look.


	4. Ron's walk

**A/N: I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I needed to include a chapter just about Ron's thoughts and regret for his reaction separately so it showed it's importance. Thanks for the reads, follows, favourites and reviews :) **

Ron walked, thought and kept going. There were so many questions running through his head thoughts worries and questions. But the most prominent question was 'Why now?' Why did Harry choose now to tell him, 4 days after it started.

Why did he tell Ginny first? Did Harry trust her more than him, his best friend?

He was so angry at Harry for not coming to him first, that he had forgotten how the importance of the situation.

Then it dawned on him, his best friend, who her had just stormed out on, and left in the common room, had red scars on his hand, that he was trying to keep secret. Words engraved into his hands 'I must not tell lies.'

The words almost stung to remember. He realised he had gotten to near the edge of the forbidden forest. Not only was he going to get in trouble if he was caught out this late by a teacher, but also if his rage induced walking hadn't been stopped by a sudden worry for his friend, he could have been killed.

The forbidden forest was full of creatures that wouldn't think twice before killing the young ginger-haired wizard simply for being on their patch.

He turned to go back to back to the castle. It would take a good 15 minutes before he got back to Gryffindor tower. Hermione would probably know by hen too, he had ran past her in the hall, brushed her off completely. She would know something was up and would have asked Harry and Ginny by now.

He knew this would have a bad effect on her and wanted to get back in time to comfort her, Hermione wasn't as strong as everyone made out to be, he knew that.

Now there was another question on his mind. Would Harry forgive his reaction to the new? Only time would tell.


	5. Hermione's Memories come back

**A/N: So theres another hint of self harm, and a swear word, hope this doesn't offend anyone. Thanks for all the favorites, follows and reviews :) If anyone has any comments or suggestions PM me or leave a review! Hope to update again soon :) **

"Harry come on tell me. I'm thinking the worst here."

"Well…." He started pulling up his sleeve to show the scar.

He began talking and didn't stop until he had told hermione everything.

What happened at detention, how he kept it a secret, why he didn't want to tell them, right up to how Ron reacted.

Hermione lost control of her emotions, burst into tears and pulled Harry into a smothering hug. It was unusual to see Hermione speechless, but this was one of those rare times when she was lost for words. There was no book that she had read that would have prepared her for this, not even in the restricted section.

Seeing the red scars on engraved into Harry's hand brought back too many horrible memories of one of her muggle best friends.

These were memories, she would just have to push them to the back of her mind, put feelings into boxes as it were, because she had to focus on helping Harry now.

Ron arrived just in time to see Hermione break down. Ginny shot him a glare.

"Come to your senses I see!" she snapped.

"I'm sorry Harry… I bloody hell!" he said ignoring his little sister and noticing Hermione crying into Harrys shoulder.

"I'm sorry Harry," He began again. "I was a complete …"

"-ly inconsiderate arsehole with the emotional range of a teaspoon." Ginny finished for him.

"I was going to say Prat, but as much as I hate to admit it, Ginny's right."

"It was a shock Ron, I know, forget about it, you're hear now." He said as Hermione finally pulled away from burying her head in Harry's shoulder.

She knew her reaction would raise questions later on, especially with Ginny. There was something about Ginevra Weasley that made her extra-sensitive about things, she could always tell when something was wrong, no matter how well she tried to hide it.

"Now we need to decide what to do about Umbridge, we cant let her contuinue with things like this." Hermione began, sitting down on the couch beside Ron and wiping the tears from under her eyes.

"We're on our own for this, any attempt to contact the order is just going to get us into more trouble," Harry said gesturing to his hand.

"We have to fight this Harry," Ginny hushed her voice as she sensed other students maybe listening.


	6. Hermione and her muggle past

**A/N: So just to reply to that guest review, it kinda makes no sense... thanks for you opinion though :) This is my version of what happened, not JK Rowlings, hers is clearly better and obviously I don't own Harry Potter (I always forget a disclaimer, I think theres one in my profile... Maybe! Reviews are really helpful and I love to here your opinions so drop a comment when you finish reading if you like/disliked something. Also there is more mentions of self-harm here... better say that just incase, please dont read it if you think its going to upset you, but theres no descriptions. Thanks for reading :) **

Later on that night Hermione and Ginny were walking up the stairs to the girls dorms.

"Ehm Hemione, I could be wrong, but is there something else on your mind, I mean I know Harry is your best friend, but you got _Really _upset about this detention thing."

You really couldn't hide anything from Ginny, she was too quick to pick up on things. Hermione listened for a moment, to see if there was anyone at either end of the stairs, silence.

Before she started this story she wanted to make sure they were alone, it was not something that she wanted to share with anyone other than her best friend.

"It's a long story, sure you want to hear it?" she asked not wanting to launch into a long-winded tale that started three years ago.

"Of course I am, I'm worried about you, talk!" Ginny reassured her, sitting up onto her bed.

Hermione sat on the opposite end, hugginh her knees up to her chin and sighing.

"Take your time," Ginny soothed gently stroking her friends arm in attempt to comfort her.

"I've never told you much about my muggle life before have I?"

"No not much at all really Hermione."

"Well theres not much to tell, I never had many friends, except for Lily."

"You've never mentioned her."

"She was my best friend in primary school, and we still met up at the holidays when I went home to my parents house, we were best friends."

'Were', that hit Ginny, something had obviously happened between them, but what had this got to do with Harry? She looked up to see the tears forming in her friends eyes.

Hermiones head was bent, her hair covering most of her face like a curtain, still hugging her knees, now tighter as if she was afraid to let go in case she fell apart.

"Three summers ago, at the end of our third year, Lily got secretive, she started making up excuses so we could spend less time together."

"Oh pet it's ok." Ginny had no idea what to say or where this conversation was going.

"No its not, one day she ran out of excuses and she came over for the evening, a girly night, it was really warm that night but she was wearing a long sleeved jumper pulled down to cover most of her hands…."

This gave Ginny a better idea of what happened and now she understood what it had to do with Harry.

"I asked her was she not boiling with the heat, and she snapped back that she was fine, she clearly wasn't. So I asked her what going on after a lot of encouragement, she, she told me, showed me her scars even, they were horrible, and there were so many, I tried to comfort her. She pushed me away and kept pushing me away. She wouldn't talk to me, or let me help her and in the end, I had to do something…." She started sobbing loudly into her knees.

"You told her parents didn't you?"

"I had to! I wasn't going to loose her to this, I did loose her friends, but atleast I helped, the cuts were deep, and it was happening more often. I only knew because she dropped out of the swim-team, because she wasn't able to cover up the scars there."

"You did the right thing Hermione, who knows what could have happened if you hadn't told her parents."

"Her parents made her go to counciling, they didn't understand it, but they wanted to help her, as much as I did." She still hasn't forgiven me, we haven't spoken since the day she text me to say I had betrayed her, and that she never wanted to speak to me again."

"Its ok, you had to do something, she'll see that one day, I'm sure she will hun," Ginny said putting her arm around the frail sobbing Hermione that was sitting beside her.

"So that's why, seeing Harry, the scars on his hand, made me so emotional, it brought back too many memories that I just wish I didnt have.


	7. The Last Word

**A/N: So this is the last chapter, it's really short, but I wanted to end it right. I know its quite sad, and references self-harm alot, so I hope I haven't upset anyone, If you have been affected, try the Butterfly Project. I wrote this, because this year I found out, that so many teenagers are affected, including people I'm close to, and Fanfiction has always been my way to vent and deal with my problems. Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews! **

Hermione had become extremely paranoid, and one day at dinner in the Great Hall, Ron made a joke, that unknowingly pushed her to tears. He was twirling his knife between his fingers, she asked him to stop, he wouldn't instead he said "It's not like I'm going to cut my wrist and bleed to death Hermione."

He didn't know how much it was getting to her, seeing a friend holding something so small yet so deadly, coming so close to harm.

She quickly said that she had to go study and to follow her later. She escaped to the toilets, where no one only Moaning Myrtle could hear her, and cried. Loud sniffles and sobs. It reminded her too much of Lily, she couldn't bare to see such a situation made light of, though she knew he had meant nothing by it.

After crying, remembering being reminded and crying some more, she got a tissue and dried her eyes. She left the bathroom, receiving a very rare sympathetic look from Myrtle, and headed for the common room.

That was ages ago, but now it made sense to Ginny, she understood why Hermione had reacted like that now. Seeing Ron doing that had reminded her of Lily.

"So that time in the Great Hall, with Ron, that's why you went to strange?"

"Yeah that was it, once a friend does something like that, you get paranoid, thinking you can help them more, when really you cant, all you can do is be there for them, and anything that reminds you of it, makes you shiver"

"It's ok, its all going to be ok," Ginny said to comfort Hermione, who was really down, sad, and needed to be cuddled


End file.
